Mobile electronic devices such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants, cameras, media players and the like may be equipped with a wireless networking capability, so that the mobile device can connect to a network when the mobile device is within range of a base station on the network. With some computer networks, base stations may have a short range and be widely spaced, so that when the mobile device is being moved a network connection may be available only occasionally and for short periods. A mobile device may then be arranged to connect automatically with a network server whenever the mobile device finds a suitable wireless connection, to send and receive messages that have accumulated or otherwise synchronize data on the mobile device with data on the network server.
However, maintaining a mobile device such as a notebook computer in a state in which the main CPU of the notebook computer is processing instructions, so that the mobile device can detect base stations and synchronize with its server automatically, results in significant power consumption, which may drain the battery of a notebook computer undesirably. Activating the notebook computer manually when it is near a wireless base station may be impractical, if the person carrying the notebook computer merely happens to pass within range of a base station at a time when that person is not thinking of operating the computer.